Steven S. DeKnight Takes Over Marvel’s Daredevil on Netflix

Hmm, apparently the suits at Marvel have chosen last week to, as Michael Corleone would say, settle all family business. Or, at least, two of thoem.

Late Friday, the studio announced the parting of ways with “Ant-Man” director Edgar Wright, and over the weekend they’ve confirmed the departure of “Cabin in the Woods'” Drew Goddard from their upcoming “Daredevil” series on Netflix. Don’t cry for Goddard, though. The writer/director previously landed the Spider-Man spin-off villain movie, “Sinister Six.” In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if his leaving “Daredevil” was because of that.

But unlike the fate of “Ant-Man,” which the studio promises a new director soon, “Daredevil” already has a new showrunner slotted in: “Spartacus'” Steven S. DeKnight.

This is good and bad news for me. The good news is that I like Steven S. DeKnight, and I liked “Spartacus.” The bad news is that DeKnight had another show waiting to be picked up at Starz called “Incursion.” It was supposed to be, essentially, “Spartacus” in outer space, with aliens. With DeKnight now jumping onboard “Daredevil,” it seems unlikely that that other show has gotten the greenlight from the cable net and DeKnight is only doing the smart thing–moving on.

Although most people know DeKnight from his bloody (and very sexy times) “Spartacus” TV series, he has pretty extensive experience with fanboy properties, and has worked as writer, producer, and director on everything from “Dollhouse” to “Angel” to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

DeKnight will take over Goddard’s role as Executive Producer and Showrunner on “Daredevil,” which Marvel has planned as a 13-episode first season that will air on the online distributor sometime in 2015. No word on who will be playing Matt Murdock yet, though…